KUALA LUMPUR: A decision on the status of the four Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) MPs who quit Sabah Bersatu will be made by Friday, says Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul.
It will be on whether the four lawmakers who remained as members of GRS after quitting Bersatu would get to keep their parliamentary seats.The four are Papar MP and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali; Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan (Batu Sapi); Datuk Matbali Musah (Sipitang); and Datuk Jonathan Yassin (Ranau).
“I have received all documents and their answers and I have 21 days to respond. I am sitting on it because I am getting more feedback from legal officers. I should finalise it by Friday,” Johari told The Star at his office yesterday.
He said the four will be informed of his decision by letter.
In the 15th General Election last November, six candidates from Bersatu contested in Sabah under the GRS logo in Kudat, Papar, Sipitang, Ranau, Batu Sapi, and Semporna.
On Dec 29, Bersatu vice-president Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee said the party had sent a notice to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker about the vacancies of the four parliamentary seats occupied by its former members.
He said that former Sabah Bersatu chief Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor had on Nov 2 made a public announcement that six (of the 13) GRS candidates were from Bersatu.
According to Kiandee, a letter from Sabah Bersatu to Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin dated Nov 3 also showed that the four were contesting as members of Bersatu. However, Kiandee said that on Dec 10, Hajiji announced that Sabah Bersatu party leaders, including its MPs, had left the party, citing consideration of the current political landscape. Kiandee had said that the act of the four MPs sitting on the government bloc in the Dewan Rakyat under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is an act of “crossing the floor”.
“Their membership in Bersatu has lapsed in accordance with the party constitution. They must cease to be members of the Dewan Rakyat and their seats should be vacated,” he added.
